Created by Gerardo Escalante,

Claudia Martinez, and Ofelia OchoaSierra Park School

Unit 5 Lesson 6

Preteaching Vocabulary

Four Dollars and Fifty CentsEric A. Kimmel

• collecting• “You got as much chance of collecting that money as

seeing Custer ride back from the Little Bighorn.” (p168)

• The paperboy is collecting the money for last month’s newspapers. (transparency)

• collecting: getting payment for a debt

• decent• “But if you let me take Shorty back to town, I’ll see he

gets a decent burial.” (p170)• Telling him that I was sorry for being rude was the only

decent thing to do. (transparency)• decent: proper; respectable; acceptable to the

community

• determined• Shorty saw stars when the coffin hit the ground, but he

was bound and determined not to pay that four dollars and fifty cents, so he lay still. (p172)

• Even though his tummy hurt, the little boy was determined to finish eating his pie. (transparency)

• determined: firm and unwilling to change; stubbornly continuing as planned

• suspicions• But she still wasn’t sold, although she kept her

suspicions to herself. (p170)• I’m not sure who stole my new backpack, but I

have my suspicions.• suspicions: uneasiness; a sense of distrust about

something but without proof or certainty

• blacksmith• He owed everybody money, from Big Oscar the

blacksmith to Widow Macrae, who ran the Silver Dollar Cafe and baked the best biscuits west of the Rockies. (p168)

• The blacksmith made the horseshoes for the bronco.

• blacksmith: someone who makes and repairs things made of iron

• tombstone• Widow Macrae ducked behind a tombstone. (p173)• The words written on the tombstone were sincere.• tombstone: a stone on a grave that shows the name

of the dead person and the dates of his/her birth and death

• buzzards• It ain’t decent leaving a feller out in the open

where the buzzards can get at him. (p176)• The hungry buzzards kept flying around the

sick cow, waiting for it to die.• buzzards: large wild birds that eat dead

animals

• bronco• A bronco threw him. (p170)• The wild bronco was hard to tame.• bronco: a wild horse

Match vocabulary words with definitions

• collecting• decent• determined• suspicions• blacksmith• tombstone• buzzards• bronco

• A someone who makes and repairs things made of iron

• B uneasiness; a sense of distrust about something but without proof or certainty

• C getting payment for a debt • D a wild horse• E a stone on a grave that shows the name

of the dead person and the dates of his/her birth and death

• F firm and unwilling to change; stubbornly continuing as planned

• G a large wild bird that eats dead animals• H proper; respectable; acceptable to the

community

CHFBAEGD